


Intentional Fight Feelings

by KtheG



Series: What are Feelings? [5]
Category: Warrior Nun (TV)
Genre: Boxer!Lilith, Doctor!Mary, Established Relationship, F/F, Lilshotgun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:13:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26400208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KtheG/pseuds/KtheG
Summary: Lilith is an underground Boxer and Mary is her doctor girlfriend
Relationships: Sister Lilith/Shotgun Mary (Warrior Nun)
Series: What are Feelings? [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870942
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26





	Intentional Fight Feelings

Admittedly, it wasn't Lilith's best fight. She had been distracted all night by Mary in the corner (it was the first fight that Mary was actually out by the ring, not waiting for Lilith to come back from beating up another opponent). And so she was understandably distracted. So it may not have been her best fight but she still won, albeit with some more bruises than normal and a split brow (she can't remember in what round it happened, just that it _hurts_ now.)

So when Mary takes her hand after the final bell, to help her out of the ring and into the locker room? if she stumbles a little it's because of Mary's hand on her arm, not because she could possibly have a concussion.... at all.

Mary sits her down on the bench, pins her there with _a look_ and LIlith is too afraid to move, so she just starts unwrapping her hands, something to keep her distracted while Mary moves around the room, gathering her kit.

"This might need stitches, hold still." and if Mary is a little harsher dabbing away the blood than normal, it's because she's never seen Lilith with blood on her face before. Usually, she KO's her opponent before the first round can even really get started. So when this fight had gone into two rounds, Mary grew nervous. But Lilith came out on top. Lilith tries to jerk her head away from Mary's medicine and so Mary brings one hand to Lilith's chin, gripping tight so she can fully clean up the cut (it doesn't actually require stitches) and the way Lilith's breath hitched? had Mary sucking in her next inhale.

"You fought good tonight, Lilith, but I don't ever want to have to put stitches in your face because I don't think I could do it, you hear?"

The life of an underground boxer wasn’t easy (“why do you do it? I know who your parents are, Lilith,” “that’s exactly why I do this Mary. It’s mine.”) but Lilith had a good enough rep after the years and she had good technique, so she was able to beat most of her opponents.

But there was one night that she walked into the warehouse and just _knew_ it wasn’t going to be pretty. She usually fought two or three matches in a night, could walk away with a good roll of cash, but she never really knew who she was fighting until she stepped into the ring and saw her opponent across from her.

So when she stepped into the ring and saw one of Crimson’s girls across from her? Lilith grew worried. She knew Crimson, had personally put her out of the ring several times, been the reason Crimson went pro instead of sticking around the club to fight and lose against Lilith. So to see one of her girls there? She knew that there would be underhanded techniques all night long. Lilith wouldn’t say she was afraid, necessarily, but cautious might be a better word.

The bell rang to signal the start of the match, and so Lilith walked to the center of the ring to bump fists with the girl (Zori? That sounds like what she heard Mary muttering), because this may be an underground fight club, but Lilith has enough respect for the sport to keep tradition. The clink that sounds from the other girls gloves sends a shock of dread straight to Lilith’s stomach. Tonight will be the ultimate test of her stamina and footwork. The referee (unofficial, he’s basically just there to make sure they don’t kill each other) gives the same spiel he always gives (“don’t kill each other, don’t hit an opponent who is out, be _smart_ ”) and he walks away.

The start bell chimes and Lilith slowly starts circling the girl, watching her footwork, content to let the other girl come to her (this is a new tactic for Lilith, usually the one who is always on top of her opponent the minute the bell dings). But her patience pays off, she sees the sloppy footwork of Zori (?) and starts mentally planning how to win. Zori takes her bait, strikes first, and it’s an easy dodge for Lilith, just shifting the shoulders back a little bit. The punches thrown her way are easy to follow, her opponent telegraphing every move well before she makes it, right handed jab, quick following left punch (the girl is right handed, which gives Lilith an advantage as a lefty) and then tries to do a quick shuffle with her feet but she trips herself up and Lilith strikes with a well placed jab between the girls elbow and ribs.

Lilith doesn’t stay in the space long, quickly shuffling out of the reach of her opponent, afraid of being caught in an arm hold that would allow Zori the chance to clock her with the brass knuckles hidden in her gloves. Every time Zori attempts a punch, Lilith manages to dodge or parry, but she’s seeing how frustrated her opponent is getting, which can be dangerous in an untrained fighter.

“It’s unfortunate you’re stuck here, in the warehouse, when you could be winning belts for this, ya know.”

The words are shocking to Lilith, she wasn’t expecting a vocal match (some of her male opponents love to take cheap shots, but they’ve all built a semi-respect over the years, so she’s less bothered by it now.) But the words cut deep, right where Lilith hurts the most, because she _wanted to_. She was so close to getting out of the club fighting scene and making it pro when she lost her chance. So to hear the words come from Zori, Lilith knows this isn’t going to be a regular, well-tempered fight. Zori has her number, and Lilith is going to rip it from her hands even if she has to die trying.

She can vaguely hear Mary and her coach in the background, telling her to stay calm, to let it go (“remember the ducks? Immune to water, and this is just water, Lilith. Breathe baby girl.”) (Lilith hates that she’s letting this get to her so much, but it was a deep wound, one she thought was healed, reopened).

The first round ends, and she stalks back to her corner, seething. Mary is there, hands on her shoulders, trying to make eye contact, but Lilith refuses. She doesn’t want Mary to see her be weak, this emotional, this affected, so she just takes a drink of her water and turns her back on Mary (she misses the hurt look on Mary’s face at the action). When the bell for the second round rings, Lilith is back into the fight like a man on a mission. She isn’t reckless (her technique is too good to be reckless) but she is _relentless_. She goes after Zori like a bloodhound after a mark.

Lilith forgets to leave the space after throwing a punch that connected solidly with Zori’s jaw, so when she feels arms wrap around her ears, she knows it was a mistake. She can feel the vibration of the brass knuckles in Zori’s gloves on her cheek, but she doesn’t register much else. Their referee jumps in to bring them apart after a few hits, and Lilith’s head is ringing. She’s not concussed yet, but she has to remind herself to be smarter, to _keep moving her feet_. She backs up, shuffles around the ring, eyes locked on Zori's, prepared for anything at this point. What she doesn't expect is the foot to come flying at her face, and she barely has enough time to dodge before there's a glove in her ribs, hitting where it hurts the most.

Lilith hasn't been hit this many times in a fight since she fought Crimson last. She’d like to say that she has a pretty high pain tolerance (being a boxer will do that for you) but the feeling of being hit with a full sucker punch enhanced by brass knuckles? She’s doubling over, trying to catch her breath, when there’s an elbow landing on her back, right where a kidney resides. (There’s only one left, the other gone to her twin sister following an incident with a drunk driver, the reason she couldn’t go pro). Lilith is on the mat before her brain catches up, each breath not managing to fill her lungs, her ribs burning and her spine feeling like it’s on fire.

Mary is yelling something, Lilith can’t tell what, clawing her way off the mat, just trying to breathe. She’s gotten to her hands and knees, one hand coming to cradle her ribs (nothing broken, just definitely a deep, deep bone bruise) as she brings one foot under her. Zori is waiting, looking everything like a cat who’s got the canary (Lilith knows she’s not concussed because she can clearly see the look on Zori’s face, the small pull at the corner of her lips. Lilith waves off Mary (she instinctively knows that Mary is trying to come to her rescue, but she’s going to put Crimson’s little bitch down if it’s the last thing she does tonight) and gets to her feet. She’s steady and still feels light on her feet.

Lilith starts shuffling, slow, trying to get her hands back up to protect her face (her left hand, her dominant hand, keeps trying to stay down by her ribs, feeling a little protective). She can practically feel Zori now, she can almost predict her moves (as if taking a few cheap shots was worth it, but Lilith isn’t going to tell Mary that) and she falls deeper into the fight, finally finding that head space that lets her move without thinking. Her punches come fast and quick, much more like she’s used to fighting. They don’t even make it out of the second round when Lilith lands her knockout punch.

She fakes out with her right hand, telegraphing a right handed uppercut before switching it out at the last moment for three quick left handed jabs straight to Zori’s ocular bone. The girl falls like a sack of bricks, and Lilith sags in relief. It’s in that moment that her body comes out of it’s “intentional fight mode” and she can hear the yells in the warehouse, can hear her coach telling her to sit down now that the match is over, but all Lilith can do is reach for Mary, start turning in her direction before her adrenaline completely leaves her and she falls hard.

She thinks Mary catches her, but to be honest, Lilith may have blacked out for a minute or two, because next thing she knows, Mary’s got her in her arms, and they’re moving.

“That was really stupid baby girl. You should’a told someone she was cheatin’ because even if it’s underground fighting, there’s still respect to be found in the sport.”

“Crimson has no respect, ’s why she got cancelled, so ‘s no surprise her girls don’t either.”

Lilith has to admit, being in Mary’s arms is really calming, she can’t feel the pain now, and so she turns her head into the crook of Mary’s neck, content to be carried by someone else for a change. They’re moving quickly, Lilith doesn’t know why, but she closes her eyes and focuses on the soft pounding of Mary’s heart against her ear. She vaguely hears the car door opening and then Mary is (somehow) climbing into the backseat of the car they took to the fight with Lilith in her lap.

They make it home in what feels like no time at all (which is almost impossible because Lilith’s apartment is on the other side of the city and it takes almost 45 minutes to get there from the warehouse on weekends like this) and then Mary is maneuvering Lilith onto her feet to walk up the steps to the building. Mary has one of Lilith’s arms wrapped around her shoulders, and one arm around Lilith’s waist, supporting the other woman. When they make it up to Lilith’s penthouse, Mary walks them straight to the master bathroom. She sit’s Lilith on the counter before turning on the tub, letting the water get warm before putting in the stopper.

Mary keeps an extensive kit at home, and so she quickly gathers everything she needs. By the time she makes it back to the bathroom, Lilith is leaning so far against the wall that Mary is concerned that Lilith has fallen asleep (or passed out again) but Lilith whines at her touch, so Mary lets her be for a minute while she adds the Epsom salt to the bath.

“Okay baby girl, let’s get your clothes off.”

“Mmmph, buy me dinner first, you heathen.”

Mary can’t help but chuckle at her girlfriends response, and just moves to take Lilith’s tank top off. She has to lift up Lilith’s arms herself, Lilith refusing to cooperate out of pain. When she’s down to her sports bra and shorts and can’t be bothered to move any further, Mary pulls out the heavy duty drugs and sticks Lilith a small dose of some “high end doctor shit that shouldn’t be in the house, _Dr. Delacroix.”_ (“And yet, you never complain about it, so it’s a good thing we have leftovers from your surgery.”)

The whole process of getting Lilith undressed and into the tub and clean goes a lot faster once she’s not really feeling any pain, and so Mary climbs in behind her and holds her girlfriend close, running her hands over the scar on Lilith’s stomach.

(Mary almost didn’t let Lilith go back to boxing after Delilah’s accident and Lilith volunteering a kidney to her sister. Those were some tense months, Lilith having to decline a deal to go pro and possibly never boxing again due to complications. But they settled for a few fights in the club every now and then until they were both comfortable with any outcome, and overtime, Lilith told Mary she could walk away from it. And Mary almost let her, until she saw Lilith going at the punching bag in the apartment and she saw the _joy_ that it brought to her girlfriend. And so they’ve been doing well, for the last year and half, building and keeping to their routine. Tonight is the first fight Lilith has almost lost in a long time (since she started getting back into the real fights) and so Mary is understandably scared.)

They sit in the bath until the water runs cold and then Mary gets them both up and dried off. When Lilith is dressed and ready for bed, she pauses to take a look at the bruise forming on Lilith’s face (Lilith flinched away with a quiet “that _hurt’s_ ”). There’s no broken skin, despite the use of brass knuckles, and so Mary counts that as a win for tonight. Lilith gets tucked under the blankets, propped up against two pillows while Mary retrieves the ice packs from the freezer to reduce swelling.

Gently, Mary wraps the ice around Lilith’s ribs and tucks the other woman under her arm. Lilith curls under the covers more and turns her face into Mary’s chest, bringing one hand to wrap around Mary’s shoulder.

“I know how you feel about this.”

“We can talk about it tomorrow baby girl, but I still love you, no matter what. And you totally showed Zori her place.”

“Mmk. Love you.”

“I love you too, baby girl.”


End file.
